This document is one of the most important for LDP, because by
configuring hardware and software you can get your own Linux box.
This HOWTO was born in the Golden Age of developers, mainly for the
command line. As it became too big and old for the current distros,
I rewrote it more simple as I could.

Fundamentally, to configure the system, Linux users have to write some
configuration files. To do it easyer, today programs and wizards
are avaliable to manage them. This programs may be quite different for
the various distributions.

This document is provided "as is". I put great effort into writing
it accurately, but you use contained informations at your own risk.
In no event shall I be liable for any damages resulting from the use
of this work.

Even if the earlier versions of this document discussed about
several distributions, I chose Mandrake-Linux and Red Hat, because
they are the most representative, with kernels range from 2.4.3 to
2.6.11, of wich last release you can easily purchase.
For more informations, or if you don't understand anything, you can
refer to other HOWTOs, among which is available the source code of
this document, at
Linux Documentation Project site.
The hardware we shall go to configure is for x86 architectures: modem,
printer, scanner. A tablet is very common also.